Shouts of “Your policies are driving us out of our neighborhoods, hypocrites!” echoed this Tuesday in the Madrid City Hall, directed at the Almeida government. Members of the Tenant Union threw leaflets and protested during the monthly Plenary session, coinciding with the intervention of the Urban Planning delegate, Borja Carabante.

About a dozen activists expressed their discontent with slogans such as “Vultures out of our neighborhoods!” and “Fewer tourist apartments, more residents!” from the guest gallery. Municipal services intervened to remove them from the plenary hall while the phrase “Go to work like everyone else” could be heard.

Notably, the official broadcast of the Plenary offered by Madrid City Hall did not capture the protest, unlike on previous occasions. The cameras remained fixed on councilor Carabante, without showing the incidents in the gallery, while opposition councilors applauded the demonstration.

The special plan defended by Carabante at that moment involved granting more surface area to the Mercado de San Miguel, a centennial building recently acquired by a Dutch investment fund, allowing its expansion after municipal processing.

This action by the Tenant Union occurs two days after a large housing demonstration in Madrid and two months after a similar protest that also resulted in the expulsion of several of its members from the March Plenary.

The new regulation applied in the May Plenary restricts the protest attire of guests, a measure that socialist councilor Reyes Maroto criticized by displaying a t-shirt with a protest slogan.